Kansas State vs George Mason

There might not be anything in sports better than Feast Week on ESPN.

That might be an exaggeration, but the annual plethora of college games on the ESPN family of networks during Thanksgiving week has only gotten better with the NCAA loosening restrictions on exempt tournaments which had added new tournaments to the old staples.

One of the more interesting games of the week so far was the showdown between nationally ranked Kansas State and upstart mid-major George Mason in the quarterfinal round of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando.

Kansas State, a once dead program, has been resuscitated with the addition of perhaps the top freshman in the country, Michael Beasley, as well as one of the top recruits of 2006, Bill Walker. The rebuilding job was jumpstarted by since departed Bob Huggins during his only season in Manhattan. Now Frank Martin takes over the job (aided by ace recruiter Dalonte Hill, the man who delivered Beasley to the Wildcats).

George Mason, on the other hand, doesn't have that kind of star power. But what they do have is a deep, well-rounded, veteran team. Senior guard Folarin Campbell and star senior big man Will Thomas (my favorite non-Terp in the country) are the two remaining starters from the Patriots' improbable run to the 2006 Final Four. Campbell is joined in the backcourt by John Vaughn and Jordan Carter among others, giving the Patriots the talent and experience to compete with most teams in the country.

In the end George Mason came out with a convincing win, building a comfortable working margin over the last eight minutes of the first half with Michael Beasley out of the game due to foul trouble, before keeping the Wildcats at bay in the second half for the double digit victory.

Beasley was everything that had been promised, scoring 30 points despite playing limited minutes due to foul trouble. And although he didn't get his third 20 rebound game in four games, he still showed a knack for position and the raw strength that makes him a tremendous rebounder. But even with a dominating performance from Beasley, Kansas State still couldn't even make the game interesting in the final minutes. The Wildcats will contend for at least a tournament berth just because of Beasley, but at this point the Wildcats did not look to be a top 25 squad.

George Mason, on the other hand, might be a top 25 caliber team. Announcer Fran Fraschilla couldn't say enough good things about Will Thomas' skill and basketball IQ. Thomas displayed a knack for getting himself into position to get the ball, scoring in a variety of ways in the post while also getting to the line. He went right at Beasley to draw Beasley's 4th foul and also showed a great ability to pass out of the double team and find the open man. Meanwhile the Patriot's backcourt had a number of scorers who were willing to drive and able to hit the open three.

GMU lost a competitive game to a quality Villanova team in the semifinals tonight and will face South Carolina in the third place game of the tournament this weekend, but this is still a team that will play in March, perhaps even if they don't win the CAA.